St. Louis Catholic School (elementary--Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8)

11 Morgan Avenue, Etobicoke, Ontario M8Y 2Z7

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• Important Dates for the School Year

• Monthly Newsletters

• CSAC Meetings

History & Tradition

St. Louis Catholic School began as a simple seven-room schoolhouse which first opened its doors on September 2, 1947. At that time it was part of the Combined Roman Catholic Separate Schools Board of the Township of Etobicoke. In the first year, there were 71 students from grades 1 to 8, with two teachers: Sister Mary Assumpta was the first principal of St. Louis. It was she who established the school motto of “faith, friends and fulfillment”.

In the years that followed, the school continued to grow. In 1962, the school gained an addition of five classrooms and a library. In 1967, St. Louis joined the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now Toronto Catholic District School Board) family. In 1968, a gymnasium and three more classrooms were added. In 1990, the original schoolhouse was torn down. The addition and renovations which make up the present building were completed in 1992.

St. Louis continues to grow in numbers, having more than doubled its population in recent years. The traditions of “faith, friends and fulfillment” continue to be an important part of the life of the school after more than 50 years in existence.

How We Meet the Diverse Needs of Our Students

As a community of Catholic educators, we at St. Louis School are committed to the educational, emotional, and spiritual development of each child in the environment of a Catholic school through:

• Religious instruction, daily prayer, liturgies and paraliturgical celebrations
• Celebrations of the liturgical seasons of the year and important feast days
• Visible signs of our faith displayed throughout the school (crucifixes, religious statues and pictures, prayer centres in each classroom)
• Cooperation with the parish team in the preparation of the students for the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist (usually in grade 2) and confirmation (grade 8).
• A code of behaviour which emphasizes respect for ourselves and for one another
• A safe arrival program which helps the school and the family to monitor the absences of their children
• Strong extra-curricular and co-curricular programs: primary and junior house leagues, student newspapers and hall displays of student work, clubs and activities open to all students (chess, needlework, crafts etc.), a junior choir, Christmas concert, and spoken arts festival, school teams for W5H, volleyball, soccer, baseball, basketball, cross-country and track & field.
• A school action plan developed through divisional and staff meetings throughout the year to meet the needs of the students in this community.
• Daily and long range planning of the classroom curriculum by teachers
• A school -based support team and inter-disciplinary team which include the special education and ESL teachers, the guidance teacher, school nurse, assessment and programming teacher, psychometrician, principal and social worker, which meet several times during the year to discuss and recommend programming strategies for students with special needs.
• Formal special education and ESL instruction for identified students
• Withdrawal resource instruction to provide interim or short-term assistance to students
• Guidance and social work assistance available to students and parents
• A well-equipped resource library
• A large number of computers, both in the classroom and in the library
• Word processing, desk top publishing and research skills taught to children at all grade levels by the teacher-librarian
• Seven multi-media computers to provide access to talking books, multi-media reference materials and the Internet.

Supporting Bendal Nursery in Africa
O, Happy Day!
Thank you to parents--details

• TCDSB Strategic Renewal Process
   

• St. Louis Safe School Plan, 2009-2010
   

• St. Louis School Learning and Improvement Plan, 2009-2010
   

• TCDSB Spring Update 2010
   

• Appropriate Dress Code

Monthly Newsletters

• Newsletter, January 2012
• Calendar, January 2012
• Newsletter, December 2011
• Calendar, December 2011
• Newsletter, October 2011
• Calendar, October 2011
• Newsletter, May 2011
• Calendar, May 2011
• Newsletter, April 2011
• Newsletter, March 2011
• Calendar, March 2011
• Newsletter, February 2011
• Calendar, February 2011
• Newsletter, January 2011
• Calendar, January 2011
• Newsletter, December 2010
• Newsletter, November 2010
• Calendar, November 2010
• Newsletter, October 2010
• Calendar, October 2010
• Newsletter, September 2010
• Calendar, September 2010

Minutes from CSAC Meetings

• November 9, 2011
• October 12, 2011
• September 17, 2011
• May 17, 2011
• April 12, 2011
• CSAC Newsletter, April 2011
• CSAC Newsletter, March 2011
• February 24, 2011
  • Appropriate Dress Code, Pros and Cons
• January 20, 2011
  • School Photography Proposal
• December 1, 2010
• October 28, 2010
• September 23, 2010
• May 26, 2010 - CSAC Commitments
• April 22, 2010
• January 21, 2010
• November 26, 2009
• October 29, 2009
• September 24, 2009
• May 28, 2009
• April 23, 2009
• February 19, 2009
• January 15, 2009
• November 20, 2008
• October 23, 2008
• September 18, 2008
• June 18, 2008 CSAC Minutes
• May 29, 2008 CSAC Minutes
• May 29, 2008 Principal Comments to CSAC
• April 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• May 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• March 2006
• January 2006
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005

CSAC Bylaws

• October 27, 2006

Other School News and Information

The St. Louis Catholic School Community joined together to celebrate Canada Day

We Thank Our CSAC for the Following Gifts to St. Louis
For the 2009-2010 School Year

Financial support of the following Enrichment Activities for the Children:

 Class Enrichment Trip buses, and Athletic Buses-- $2500.00

Destination Imagination to Knoxville, Tennessee-- $500.00

Montreal Trip Contribution-- $600.00

Welcome to Kindergarten Refreshments and Curriculum Gift Bags-- $300.00

Pizza Lunch for the fundraiser winning class-- $80.00

Teacher’s Allowance of $100. per teacher-- $1200.00

First Communion Expenses-- $100.00

Confirmation Expenses-- $100.00

SK and Grade 8 Graduation-- $200.00

Refreshments for Play Day-- $110.00

Student Enrichment Dance Instruction-- $500.00

Student Enrichment Scientist in the School-- $145.00

Bishop Allen Parent Outreach Evening, refreshments-- $100.00

Confirmation Retreat Refreshments-- $80.00

 We couldn’t do it so well without your generous support and partnership.

Thank you to our CSAC parents, from the entire school community!

Students Volunteer at the Food Bank with Premier
The Grade 8 students from St. Louis Catholic School joined Premier Dalton McGuinty and MPP Laurel Broten at the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank on September 29th. In addition to supporting the Daily Bread Food Bank with donations, the Grade 8 students volunteered their time to sort and pack 5417 lbs. of food.

Generous spirit grows school garden
St. Louis caretaker spends lunches, weekends blossoming beauty

Generous spirit grows school garden. For the past eight years, Albert Leo, caretaker at St. Louis Catholic School, has dedicated much of his time to creating and maintaining the gardens in the school's front yard. Staff photo/ANICE WONG St. Louis Catholic School caretaker Albert Leo looked up at the early June sun and flashed a big grin.
It would be a great day for the Grade 3/4 split class to help him plant parents Fernando and Catherine Campese's annual $400 gift, a bounty of bright-bloomed impatiens, petunias, marigolds and begonias in his garden.

His garden.

"It was supposed to be one piece of garden going down from the school entrance to the sidewalk. I don't know what happened," Leo said, laughing, of the burgeoning gardens he began eight years ago that now fill the elementary school's entire frontage. "It has become a miracle. I became addicted to it. It's relaxing. It's a therapy. You talk to the plants and they talk to you. You don't hear it, but you see it in the way they grow."

There's a shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a centerpiece of the garden featuring an angel, a child nestling a dog, rabbits, squirrels and lanterns he calls his "bridal path." A second garden wraps around a large tree. The third, Leo and some students' favourite, teems with big rocks of every shape, hostas and geraniums and surrounds the St. Louis Catholic School sign.

What grass remains is reminiscent of The Emerald Isle. Leo ensures it stays that way. He recuts the lawn each time school board contractors cut it.

"I'm picky about the grass. I like it smooth, clean edges and everything."

Leo sources most of the gardens' rocks, and many of its sculptures, from Mimico neighbours' boulevards on garbage day.

Bright blossom-filled flower boxes line the Morgan Avenue-facing school office, staff room and some ground-floor classrooms.

"How do you like my deck?" Leo asked, after he toured a reporter through his works of art. The patio is made entirely from recycled materials, including sand from four local schools. It took a month for him to cement the interlocking brick patio, and to plant flowering shrubs all along its perimeter.

"I love it out here. I could spend the whole day out here," he said, smiling, as he often does. "I bought a lot of the plants, and other things. It looks good. It makes me feel good. Residents love it."

Leo helped neighbours Bernice and her husband, Walter Obloj with their lawn and gardens, as he does for many area residents.

"He's a very nice fella," said Bernice Obloj, who lives directly across the street from St. Louis Catholic School. "He helps us. He's done a good job. We don't have to go to a park. We sit on our veranda and look at the beautiful (school) garden."

Grade 3 student Isabella Boyle, 9, and her Grade 4 classmate, Jasmine Carlos, also nine-years-old, helped plant that day.

"Sometimes, we go outside and read. It's really nice," Boyle said.

Carlos agreed. "Mr. Leo did a nice job. I'm excited to plant. Sometimes, I plant with my Dad at home."

Inside the school, Leo's tidy office he calls his "bachelor apartment" complete with kitchen, office and lounge area also bursts with colour and personality.

This year, graduating Grade 8 students will paint a Toronto FC logo on Leo's mural wall, painted official Maple Leaf blue. "I don't care if (the Leafs) never win the Stanley Cup. I'll never give up on them."

The opposite wall is painted red. It is splashed with countless photos of family, friends and his lovingly restored red 1994 Honda Civic with spitshine rims.

A father of four who lives in North York, Leo, 48, has worked for the Toronto Catholic District School Board for 21 years. He said he hopes to retire from St. Louis.

"This is the best school I've ever worked in," he said. "The kids are awesome. The principal is awesome. The teachers are great. The parents and neighbours are very nice."

Principal Rosanne Morris returned the praise.

"Mr. Leo goes far beyond his job description," Morris said, noting he painted some of the school walls in preparation for the school's 60th anniversary celebration when the board's timeline wouldn't work.

"He's often here on weekends working in the garden, sometimes with his children. And nobody has ever asked Mr. Leo to do this. It's a complete gift from Mr. Leo to the neighbourhood."

Never once, Morris said, has Leo ever submitted a bill for any aspect of his labour of love.

"Just call it Heaven," he said, smiling.
 

Lockdown Procedures

School Learning Improvement Plan -- 2011-2012

School Learning Improvement Plan -- 2010-2011

School Learning Improvement Plan -- 2009-2010

Safe School Plan -- 2010-2011

EQAO Assessment Results

EQAO: